Pietie Coetzee

World record goal-scorer Pietie Coetzee netted for the 282nd time in the final match of an illustrious career as South Africa's women's hockey team beat Japan 2-0 to finish ninth at the Hockey World Cup in The Hague on Friday.

It was agony and ecstasy for the South African women's team at the Hockey World Cup in The Hague on the weekend as they crushed world number three England 4-1 on Friday before suffering a last-gasp, heart-breaking 3-4 loss to China on Sunday.

It was agony and ecstasy for the South African women's team at the Hockey World Cup in The Hague on the weekend as they crushed world number three England 4-1 on Friday before suffering a last-gasp, heart-breaking 3-4 loss to China on Sunday.

World record goalscorer Pietie Coetzee has made a surprise return to the Investec South Africa women's hockey team following the withdrawal of double-Olympian Lenise Marais only days before the start of the Hockey World Cup in The Hague.

Wow! Where did that come from? The previously winless South African women's hockey team delivered a scintillating performance at the Riverbank Arena on Monday to thrash the USA 7-0 in a pool B clash at the London Olympic Games.

South African field hockey star Pietie Coetzee, the all-time leading goal scorer in women's international hockey, will be attending her third Olympic Games in London, having made an incredible comeback after a long absence from the sport.

Striker Noko Matlou is one of the most recognisable faces of South Africa's national women's football team, Banyana Banyana, which will be competing in its first Olympic Games in London.

The first group of athletes who will be representing South Africa at the London Olympics next month was announced by South Africa's Olympic governing body Sascoc on Wednesday 6 June in Johannesburg.
• Olympic countdown begins

The South African women's hockey team have emulated their football counterparts by qualifying for the 2012 London Olympic Games, with a stunning 3-1 win over India in the final of a qualifying tournament in New Delhi on the weekend.

South African striker Pietie Coetzee broke the women's hockey world record of 220 test match goals with a stunning first half hat-trick in a 5-5 draw between South Africa and the USA at the Champions Challenge tournament in Dublin on Tuesday.